Topklasse Live | T20 Round 3 | As it Happened

Our optimism was unwarranted it seems. Match Abandoned.

The square’s weatherd the storm fine it seems, but the outfield and run-ups are still damp. Sun’s out though, looks promising. Inspection at 11.30.

A pitch inspection is ongoing at Thurlede, the outfield unsurprisingly wet. An enormous amount of water came down last night.

The rain has arrived at Westvliet too, bringing a halt as Levitt falls for a circumspect 40 off 42. Engelbrecht’s still there on 18*, except of course he isn’t actually out there because it’s raining.

The rain cuts short what looked set to be a short game anyway with Salland 2 down after 2.5 overs. Plenty of time in the day yet but I wouldn’t hold your breath…

It did not get interesting because Tim Pringle just hit three consecutive fours to see HCC win by 4 wickets with 7 balls to spare.

Mudford goes for 65, but too late to change the inevitable. Clark and Malik walk it in as Sparta win by 6 wickets.

VRA take the lead in the Salland-bossing competition, one better than VOC as VRA won by 168 runs.

Things could yet get interesting at Hazelaarweg though, where Asief Hoseinbaks has just dismissed the set Tonny Staal for 69 with 24 still needed and 2.5 overs to go. Pringle at the crease on 22*, yash Patel joins him.

Meanwhile HBS have recovered from that early wobble to cruise to the win at Westvleit, HBS won by 6 wickets.

At Thurlede Riley Mudford looks intent on chasing this target down on his own, he’s on 62* off 30-odd rocks and could just about still sneak in a ton if he farms strike astutely.

Salland well on the way to another three-figure defeat at the Zomercomplex. Left arm seam largely resonsible for the collapse this time, four for Fletcher, two for Abid.

Elenbaas has five for the day, four of them openers as he sends Mason and Walbrugh back in his opening spell. Now Dutt has Botha caugh-and-bowled. One more wicket and HBS may start to worry. Del Bianco joins de Villiers.

An unbeaten fifty for Mckenzie gets the hosts past 150, HCC already off in pursuit, and already one down as Wiggins prods a low retrun catch to Arnav Jain in the first over.

Niels Etman hits only the fourth six of the innings in the final over to get the hosts past the psychologically significant 120-mark, but apart from him and his brother at the top it’s been slow going for the home bats. Baker and Ahmadi particularly economical giving up just 38 runs between them, and Ahsan Malik with three wickets, even on a tough track at Thurlede Sparta will be pretty happy with their work.

Eales has finally been dismissed, but not before bringing up his maiden half-century and passing 200 runs for the season before getting out for the first time. Fifty for Floyd too, and a 200+ target for Salland.

No sign of acceleration at Thurlede though, Ingram still there but struggling at a sub-70 strike rate, Mitchell gone now having likewise seen more balls than runs in his innings. Stan van Troost in with Ingram now.

HCC have kept VOC in check pretty well meanwhile despit just picking up 2 more wickets, Pringle particularly economical giving up just 15 runs from his three so far. Jock McKenzie looks set and set to accelerate though, Arnav Jain with him for the last push..

Hermes’ bad day with the bat continues, Julian de Mey their chief tormentor. He has four wickets to his name and Hermes are two wickets away from a double digit score.

VRA have been trading wickets for runs at a fairly favourable rate through the middle overs, Floyd and Eales in the middle now. Salland will need to remove them quickly because it doesn’t look like they’ve any plans to consolidate.

A bad day for in-form bats so far. Doyle-Calle and Klijnhans go cheaply again at Westvliet, Ostling too. Dutt and Elenbaas for Hermes now…

Two down at Thurlede too, Ahsan Malik back and in the wickets again. He has Verhagen caught behind off his second ball, and Scheepers has brought a threatening Tim Etman innings to an end too. Ingram and Mitchell in.

Game two at the Zomercomplex and Vikram “bowling all-rounder” Singh has gone early again, caught off Gopinath for 4, and Rasool’s out for single digits too, falling to Lubbers for 8. Nidamanuru and Prince at the crease.

First down at Hazelaarweg, as a promising opening stand between Schierhout and Fourie is broken at 46. Tim Pringle (for it is he) has Schierhout caught at long off for 34. Betteelheim in.

Eales the hero for VRA meanwhile, two short of a well-deserved fifty as he ends unbeaten (as he has in every single match so far) on 48, 142 runs without being dismissed in the comp now. VRA win by 3 wickets.

The end has come quickly at Westvliet, Floris de Lange looking for an early lunch it seems. The leggie ifrst broke the chase with the wickets of Ostling and Braat, now runs through the tail to claim a five-wicket haul. 5-20 in 3.5 he ends with and VCC win by 61 runs.

Over at the Zomercomplex we’re set for a tense finish, Rasool’s 40 at the top of the order gave VRA a start they look intent on frittering away, Elijah Eales the sole exception, unbeaten on 37 with the tail for company. He and Rasool the only bats to reach double figures, wickets shared around.

Braat had been doing his best to marshall some middle order resistance, but when he falls to de Lange for 38 the writing is on the wall. Statham follows two balls later and the chase is unravelling fast.

VRA in early trouble too as Kamal has Singh caught short third off a thick outside edge and Nidamanuru wafts a return catch back to Shafiq. Rasool and Prince in.

Vivian Kingma, back and bowling, delivers an absolute monster double blow in the first over, dismissing the competitions two form bats for nothing in the space of four balls. CP Klijnhans squared up and pinned in front, DDC nicked off on the drive. 164 suddenly a huge ask as Ostling and Dutt look to consolidate. Van Vliet shares the new ball, Kingma follows up with a maiden, advantage VCC.

Conversely Voorburg, who were a run behind where Punjab were with three overs to go, get good value out of their two set bats at the death as Englebrecht and Klein club their way to a solid total. Five fours in Engelbrecht’s 70* off 50, five sixes in Klein’s 68* off 40, the latter making a case for himself as specialist late hitter. Whether it will be enough to challenge Hermes top-heavy but in-form batting card remains to be seen of course.

The Punjab tail does what it can, but the wickets kepp coming. Eales bags his first to finish with more than creditable figures of 1-20 off 4, Singh the star with the ball though, another catch ing the deep doing for Shafiq as Singh ends with 3-15 in 3. Musa’s 30 at the top proved the best score of the game for Punjab who wind up on a sub-par 133-9.

Samir Butt goes in the same way as Musa, sweeping Shariz high but not long into the deep, Udit Nashier then has Saqib caught off a rank full toss before Vikram “genuine all-rounder” Singh has Asad Zulfiwar caught at cow and then Sikander Caught behenind in his next. Like all good collapses it’s punctuated by a run-out, Niaz gone too Usman and Salarzai at the crease as Punjab stumble into the death.

Skipper Sabba Braat added the wicket of opposite number Noah Croes to Elenbaas’ three early strikes, but SA Engelbrecht and Ryan “specialist bat” Klein have done a fine job counter-attacking to drag the hosts back toward respectability. They’re on 51* and 54* respecively with three overs left to do some damage.

Clayton Floyd finds the first breakthrough for VRA, has Minhas caught point off a thick outside edge trying to swing over midwicket. Musa Ahmad looks in flowing form though, Nidamanuru roles the dice and bring his younger brother on to bowl at him. Goes poorly for the visitiors at first as Musa twice sweeps Shariz over the mdiwicket fence, but tries to go once to many, doesn’t get the distance on the thrid and caught in the deep for 30. Samir Butt joins Saqib Zulfiqar in the middle.

Voorburg in trouble early as Oli Elenbaas strikes in each of his first three overs, the in-form Michael Levitt failing to clear deep midwicket in the first then Gavin Kaplan – on VCC debut – is caught behind for a duck. Nehaan Gigani falls for 16 in the next fending to point. Engelbrecht and Molenaar looking to rebuild.

VOC-Punjab has been postponed again, now scheduled for May 18th.